The Doorman's Repose by Chris Raschka

A group of apartments: a little microcosm with its wonderful, mythical, surreal characters and histories.
It's this and much more the beautiful, funny, touching, moving children's book: The Doorman's  Repose by Chris Raschka by New York Review Children's Collection.
The title is referred at the last short tale published in this book. Ten in total, all felt, extraordinarily touching, funny, or moving.

New York City, 777 Garden Avenue it's where our stories will take place.
These short tales will let us discover the importance of the uniqueness of our lives, thanks to stories speaking of love, friendship, humanity.
In the last story we will understand the importance of people and the existing connections that we develop in a city, or wherever we live in. This world is just a big, little world.

At the beginning Mr. Bunchley the new doorman starts his service in this new place but without any kind of notion of sport, although acculturated in terms of gardening. Everyone wanted to talk of sport but simply Mr. Bunchley couldn't do that. He tried, but without any success.
At first he thought that he would have lost his job because of this lack but maybe it won't be like this.

Animals are humanized in two stories Anna and Pee Wee  and Mouse Exchange. In the second episode the family of mice living in a countryside will afford in the Big Apple and exactly in 777 Garden Avenue for living extraordinary adventures and vice-versa, with a lot of funny adventures.

I found poetic the short story Fred and the Pigeons with a melancholic end as just life can be, sophisticated the one of The Forgotten Room, where an enchanted place with a great story behind made of sentiments, love and loss and.. a piano hidden to life. The room rested isolated per decades before to being again re-discovered restoring not just the physical part of this room but also its magical touch, while the opera singer, a surreal episode, let me thought that yes, maybe it is true, wherever we are there is an opera singer. Truly funny!

Otis is the most romantic short story I have ever read. While you will start to read it you will be transported into a beautiful and moving love-story.

A children's book The Doorman's Repose written by a great story-teller, smitten by the dream of life, not forgetting that the poetry of everyday, like humor and a bit of surrealism can help all of us grown-ups children or children to going on well in life.

I thank The New York Review Children's Collection for the physical copy of this book!



Anna Maria Polidori